AXA IM Alts, the alternative assets arm of AXA Investment Managers, has announced an investment in US-based Pantheon Regeneration PBC. AXA IM Alts manages assets worth over €188 bn across asset classes such as private real estate, private debt, alternative credit, infrastructure and private equity.
The equity investment into Pantheon forms part of the AXA IM Alts’ natural capital and impact investment strategy. Pantheon is a nature-based solutions company developing and managing peatland restoration through carbon credit projects.
AXA Im Alts' investment will finance the company’s first project - Pocosin Ecological Reserve I (PER I). The project aims to restore hydrological functions of the peatlands and actively manage the peatland across a 14,500-acre site in southeastern United States.
“When pocosin peatlands are drained, natural sequestration stops and the organic material decomposes, adding around 21 tons of CO₂ per hectare each year to the atmosphere, substantially adding to global greenhouse gas emissions”, says Alexandre Martin-Min, head of natural capital & impact investments at AXA IM Alts.
In addition to their emissions, carbon-rich peatlands that are unnaturally drained are highly flammable, increasing their vulnerability to wildfires. “We are therefore excited to support Pantheon Regeneration PBC and its peatland restoration project, actively contributing to climate change mitigation, whilst restoring natural habitats”, Martin-Min adds.
Pantheon’s restoration of peatlands is expected to generate carbon credits which AXA Im Alts' statement says will be ‘high-quality and verified’.
“As well as generating high-quality carbon credits, Pantheon’s projects aim to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, restore natural hydrology, and provide habitat for threatened species”, said Martin-Min.
